The Choice
by PicnicFanficnicAardvark
Summary: The return of Jack Stewart has dire concequences for Jesse.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Diagnosis Murder or any of it's characters.**

* * *

**Prologue**

Dr Jessie Travis shuffled over to his locker, and for a few moments he merely gawked at it as his brain refused to register the need for opening it; Jesse was exhausted, the already-ridiculously-long-shift he'd managed catch for himself had ended so many hours ago, he was having trouble remembering what the inside of his own apartment looked like. Slowly his hand started to reach out for the locker door; it was funny, but he could have sworn his arm never used to be this heavy. After his pathetic attempt to open the door actually worked, Jesse was met with a terrifying realisation...He now had to decide what he needed to take from his locker, and what (if anything) he needed to put back.

And just when he thought things were getting simpler...

* * *

"You know, Steve, you really didn't have to pick me up at the..." Dr Jack Stewart was taken aback by Community General Hospitals new look, "Man, you really weren't kiddin' when you said this place had changed." It was the fist time he'd set foot in the place since he'd left to start his own practice in Colorado five years earlier.

"I wasn't kidding about the bomb either..." Lieutenant Steve Sloan grimaced at the not-so-distant memory.

"Jack!" Dr Amanda Bentley snapped him back to reality.

"Hey Amanda, long time no see," He gave her a quick hug, "I was just admiring the new decor...Mark, hey!"

Dr Mark Sloan walked over to the three of them, "Jack..." He smiled as he shook the younger mans hand, "It's so good to see you again."

"I just couldn't believe it when you said you were transferring back to Community General..." Amanda's voice was suddenly tinged with concern, "Are you sure everything's OK?"

"Yeah...You're not in any trouble are you?" Mark added.

"Guy's I'm fine, this is only temporary...Remember?" Jack reassured them with a good-natured smile, "So quit worrying."

* * *

Jesse trudged out of the locker room, paying little attention to what was going on around him; all he wanted to do was go home and sleep...He missed sleep, and he would be damned if he was going to let anything come between him leaving the Hospital, getting in to his car and going...

"Jesse!" Amanda waved him over, "Over here."

The young Doctor narrowed his eyes and sighed heavily...This was going to be harder than he thought.

As he walked over to his three friends...And some guy with black hair, he couldn't help but wonder if he was actually moving as slowly as felt he was moving, "Hey, what's up." He even thought his voice sounded slow and tired, _Caffine...thanks for nothing!_, he looked at the black haired man, who on closer inspection had a rather 'italian-look' about him, "Hey..." Jesse smiled as politely as possible, despite feeling sore that they'd stopped him getting from location A to location B successfully.

"Hey."

"Long day Jess?" Steve smirked.

Jesse shot his friend a look, "If you've shouted me over here just to mock me..."

"Pay no attention Jesse," Mark put his hand on his young friends shoulder, "We shouted you over so you could finally meet our old friend, Jack Stewart...Remember I told you he was transferring back to Community General temporarily?"

Suddenly, Jesse sparked up a little, "Jack...Hey, I've been wanting a chance to thank you in person for saving me a place on the cruise ship the other month...I really appreciated it."

"Yeah...I didn't actually save you a place, you just took mine." Jack replied dismissively, "Something came up at the last minute so I had to cancel...I was really looking forward to going on that cruise as well..."

Jesse's face dropped, "I'm so sorry...I really had no..."

A grin appeared on Jack's face, and he turned to the other three, "Is he always this gullible?"

"Yes." They replied in unison.

"What...?" The young Doctor stared at the four of them in confusion until his mind decided to catch up with them, "Oh...Right." He gave Jack a pathetic look, "I'm really tired..."

"Yeah...I see that."

"Aw man!"

"Something wrong Jess?" Steve asked.

"I forgot to get my car keys out of my locker." He whined, "I just wanna sleep..."

Ignoring their stifled laughter, Jesse trudged back to the locker room; suddenly remembering his manners, the young Doctor looked back and gave a friendly smile, "It's good to finally meet you Jack."

"Yeah, likewise." Jack returned the smile, then turned to his friends when Jesse was out of sight, "Man, and I thought I was working too hard..."

"Jesse has a hard time saying 'no' to people who ask him to cover for them." Amanda explained, "Oh, and believe it or not, his shift actually started on Tuesday."

"Tuesday?! But today's..." Jack's eyes widened in shock, "Now I feel tired just thinking about it...I'm gonna go sort out a few things before I fall asleep...See you guy's later." He laughed, shaking his head.

* * *

Gripping his car keys, Jesse pressed the button and got in to the lift...So far so good. As the lift moved downwards to the Parking Lot, the young Doctor allowed himself a brief sigh of relief...He was finally on the home-stretch. When the lift _dinged_ and the doors opened, Jesse took in a breath of the not-so-fresh Parking Lot air, a small smile appearing on his face...He had officially made it outside, now all he needed to do was get to his car, and get out of there; and this time he was adamant that no matter what, nothing and no one was going to stop him.

As he walked across the Lot to his parking space, he couldn't help but overhear some sort of a disturbance; his first reaction was to go and have a look, but he quickly diminished the though, _No way, not when I'm so close..._

Just when his car came in to sight, Jesse groaned inwardly; he couldn't just drive out of there, not when there was a high possibility that the sounds he was hearing were due to some sort of distress...He was first and foremost a Doctor after all, what if the person (or persons) needed medical attention?

Managing to walk a little faster now (it was surprising what a little adrenaline could achieve), Jesse headed over to the disturbance, making sure to do his best to stay out of sight...Just in case.

Hiding behind a pillar, the young Doctor took a sneak-peak at what was happening; there were four guys, a large bald brute of a guy who had a black haired middle-aged guy with glasses on, tightly in his grasp; a dark haired guy who was punching the middle-aged guy in the ribs, and another black haired guy stood watching. Once the middle-aged guy had finally passed out from the pain, the black haired guy helped the other two put him in the trunk of the car.

Jesse took a sharp intake of air and pulled his Cellphone out of his jacket pocket; fumbling with it nervously as he attempted to go straight to Speed Dial...He needed to call Steve, _Come on, please work!_ He prayed silently, knowing how the Parking Lot was notoriously temperamental when it came to phone signals.

Deciding to take one last look before he pressed his Speed Dial, Jesse took another peak at the men; dropping his phone in horror when one of the badguys turned around...It was Jack Stewart.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Hey guys, do you know that guy you've been so excited about seeing again? Well I hate to break it to you, but he's really a crazed loonatic, who beats people up and then throws them into the trunk of his car." Jesse sighed heavily and flopped on to his bed face first, his sigh turning into a muffled groan, "I'm screwed..."

Despite his earlier exhaustion there was no way he'd be able to sleep now, not when his mind was racing so much. He knew that telling his friends was the 'right' thing to do. but he also knew that telling them would come at a price...Resentment; they wouldn't actually want to resent him, nor would they dub their feelings 'appropriate', but they wouldnt be able to help it.

As far as Jesse was concerned, the messanger always gets shot.

He did have another option...Stay quiet and act like nothing ever happened. In many ways that seemed like the most appealing option, but what if keeping stum resulted in his friends getting hurt? He didn't want to put Mark, Steve and Amanda in danger, _So what if they resent me, as long as they're safe, that's all that matters._

Jesse went up for air and turned over on to his back, _Jack wouldn't hurt them, they're his friends...Surely he couldn't have changed that much in six years._

_Or could he?_ Jesse was finding all the questions floating around in his head very difficult to answer, especially considering he'd practically only just met the guy. He suddenly realised that everything he knew about Jack had come from other people.

If there was any truth in the rumours he'd heard flying about when he'd first arrived at Community General, then Jack has some family ties with the Mafia...Or something like that, and Mark had apparently saved him from a life of crime...or something, he wasn't sure exactly; Jesse had learned quickly that anything heard coming out of the hospital rumour mill should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Although, if there was any truth in the rumours, then maybe without Mark's guidance, Jack had gotten back to his 'old' ways.

All Jesse knew for certain was how much Jack meant to Mark, Steve and Amanda, and how much telling them what he'd seen would hurt them. From what Jesse had heard, Jack's always been like an older brother to Amanda, he and Steve are abviously close friends, and much like Jesse, Jack's Mark's protégé .

In fact, the more Jesse thought about it, the more he realised that his relationship with the three of them seemed very similar to Jack's; the only real difference being that Amanda was the one to treat Jesse like a younger sibling.

With that notion in mind, Jesse suddenly realised how unpleasant the outcomes of telling his friends would be. Either they wouldn't believe him, which would obviously be hurtful, or they would believe him, which would be even worse, because if they could so easily believe Jack could do something like that, then wasn't it just as possible that they could think something like that was possible of Jesse?

_No_, Jesse shook his head, however much in common they may seem, they were still very different people, _I'm just scaring myself out of telling them._

Jesse took a glance at the clock - 4:45am.

"Great..only an hour and fifthteen minutes until I need to get up."

With a heavy sigh he turned out the lights and got in to bed, knowing he needed to at least try and get some sleep; afterall, the adrenaline wouldn't last forever.

* * *

Mark stared on in disbelief as he watched Jesse's exhausted attempts at rushing towards him.

"Sorry I'm late...I overslept." He panted, "I would have called to let you know, but I seem to have misplaced my Cellphone." He hadn't quite built up the courage to tell Mark he'd dropped his phone in the parking lot after witnessing Jack's evil deeds.

Mark grabbed Jesse's shoulders, afraid the younger man might collapse if he didn't, "Jesse you can't go on like this..."

"I said I was sorry..." Jesse frowned.

"No not that." Satisfied that his young friend could stay upright without his help, Mark let go, "Jesse you need to take a break, you're wearing yourself down to the ground."

"But I like having a heavy workload...In fact Amanda says I thrive on it...and I'd have to agree."

"Usually I would too, but you don't exactly appear to be thriving right now." Mark took a very familiar object out of his jacket pocket, "Oh, and as for your Cellphone..."

Jesse swiftly grabbed it from him, "Mark you're a lifesaver!"

"Don't thank me," Mark signalled towards Jack, who was chatting to one of the Nurses at the Nurses Station, "Jack's the one who found it."

Jesse's heart skipped a beat,"Uh...Where did he find it?" His bid to sound cool and casual didn't sound nearly as cool and casual as he was aiming for.

"In the Doctors lounge I think."

All colour drained from the young Doctors face..._Jack must know, why else would he have lied?_

Mark frowned, "Jesse I think I should take you home...You really do look terrible, and you're in no condition to drive."

"I could drive him, my shifts just about over." Jack offered.

Jesse almost jumped out of his skin at Jack's sudden presence behind him, but the initial fear quickly turned in to indignation when he noticed the amused glances the two older Doctors were giving him, "I don't need anybody to drive me home, I can drive myself home just fine."

Mark's face suddenly turned straight, "Jesse there's absolutely no way I'm letting you drive out of here."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get in to some sort of an accident now would we?" Jack added.

_Wait...Was that a threat?_ Or was Jesse just getting paranoid?

Mark put his hand on Jesse's shoulder, "Jack's right Jesse, it's far to dangerous."

If it was a threat, Mark obviously hadn't picked up on it.

"And don't forget the countless number of civilians you'd be putting in danger too Jess."

The three Doctors stared hungrily at the bag of delicious smelling BBQ ribs Steve was holding in his hands.

"I'll let Steve drive me home!" This was great, not only would he be able to chomp on some ribs, he could also get out of leaving alone with Jack without causing any suspician.

"I'm doing what now?" Steve pulled the bag away when he noticed Jesse reaching out to grab one of his tasty BBQ ribs, "Don't even think about it!"

`"Hey, technically I own half of them!" Jesse protested.

"Yeah? Well I'll let you lick the excess sauce from the bag once I've finished."

Jesse glowered at him.

* * *

Steve turned to the passenger side of his car, if it wasn't for the fact that he was witnessing a large amount of his BBQ ribs getting devoured by Jesse, he'd probably be questioning whether or not the young Doctor was feeling OK right about now, "You look worse than you did yesterday Jess." Steve quickly swiped his bag of ribs off his friend, "Give me that!"

Jesse shot Steve a sullen look, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"You didn't get much sleep? Jess, you were completely wiped out yesterday."

Jesse started to play with his tie nervously, "I guess I had things on my mind."

Steve was watching his friend out of the corner of his eye, "Oh...Is everything OK?" As the younger man squirmed in his seat it became apparent to the Lietennant that whatever was bothering him, he wasn't ready to talk about it, "So, what do you think about Jack?"

Jesse's head shot up, "What do you mean what do I think about him?!"

"Jess relax...I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Sorry..." He dragged his hand down his face, "I'm just...Really tired."

Steve pulled up to Jesse's appartment block, "I know...You really need to start taking it easier."

Jesse looked out towards the general direction of his appartment and sighed, it looked so far away, "That's what everybody keeps telling me..." He muttered, then turned back towards his friend and somehow managed to muster up a tired looking smile, "Thanks for the ride."

"Don't mention it." Steve smiled as Jesse got out of the car, "I'll come pick you up at about 8pm OK?"

"Pick me up?" Jesse stared at him in confusion, then it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks, "Oh...Jack's 'Welcome Back' party."

Steve raised an eyebrow, his friend couldn't have sounded less enthusiastic if he'd tried, "You are still coming right?" He asked, then added with a grin, "Don't worry, there'll be food." He was sure the last part would put a smile on the younger mans face.

He was wrong.

"I'm not sure...I'll see how I feel later." He slammed the door shut, "See you later Steve."

"Yeah...Later." Steve frowned as he watched his friend walk slowly towards his appartment building...Something was definately wrong.

* * *

The next morning Mark was busily cleaning away the dirty plates and empty bottles from the night before...This was the one thing about having a party that Mark had never been particularly fond of, and strangely enough it was always around this time that Steve seemed to 'disappear'.

A smile appeared on his face as he thought back to the party, it'd felt just like old times...As though Jack had never even left.

The absence of Jesse was a little disappointing though, he'd been looking forward to having this get together with all of his closest friends. There was something bugging him about how Jesse had been behaving the last time he'd saw him, there was obviously something bothering the younger man, but Mark just couldn't figure out what it might be...It was almost as though Jesse wanted to tell him something, but was too afraid to do so.

Steve was concerned too, Mark could tell...His son's mood had gotten suddenly somber when he'd found out that Jesse wasn't coming, in fact he'd spent most of the night sat alone on a stool in the kitchen. Not that Jack or Amanda had noticed, they'd been too busy catching up on each others lives.

The sound of the doorbell dragged Mark from his musings, "I'll be right there!" He called out as he threw the last of the bottles away and rushed to the door, "Jesse..." Mark greeted in surprise, "Did you take the Bus?"

"No...I called a Cab." Jesse stood at the door, tugging at the cuff of his jacket nervously, "Can I come in?"

Mark looked at him in confusion, "Of course, why do you even need to ask?" He watched as the younger man trudged in to his house and made his way to the living room...Something was definately wrong, "You should have called me." Mark said as he followed behind, "I would have given you a lift."

"Oh...It's OK, really." The young Doctor looked out at the empty bottles on the deck, "Did you guys have a good time last night?"

"Yeah...We missed you though." Mark directed his gaze towards where Jesse was looking, "Oh, I guess I miseed a few...I'll grab them later."

"I can get them." Jesse said as he went out on to the deck.

Mark went to walk out after him, "Jesse you don't have to do that."

"It's fine really." He said as he picked them up, "It's only a few bottles."

Mark watched as his friend threw them away, "You didn't come here just to help me clean up did you?" Mark chuckled. He kept his tone light, not wanting to push the younger man too hard.

"No, I..." Jesse suddenly found the old vase on Marks shelf very interesting, "Like your vase."

"That old thing's been up there for years Jesse."

"I know...This light really brings out it's features though, don't you think?" He picked it up for a closer look.

"I've never really took that much notice." Mark just hoped his friend would get around to telling him what was wrong before he dropped the thing.

Jesse took a deep breath and put the vase down slowly, "Mark..." Jesse started as he went and sat down nervously on the couch next to his friend, "Can I talk to you?"

"Of course you can Jesse." Mark gave a warm smile, "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"What would you do...Hypothetically...If you witnessed someone doing something bad, and maybe even illegal, and you really wanted to tell someone what you saw, but you knew that doing so would really hurt them, even if it is the right thing to do...Would you tell them anyway, or just keep it to yourself?"

Mark took a sigh of contemplation, "Well...It's always difficult when you know the right choice will hurt someone, especially someone you care about...And a lot of the time you'll find the right choice will do that, but you know...I've always been a firm believer of doing the right thing, regardless of whether or not it angered, or hurt someone I cared about...And Steve will vouch for that." Mark grimaced as he recalled the many times (especially in Steves teenage years) that he'd been forced to make decisions that were very unpopular with his son...Most of which were the times he'd forced Steve to admit his wrong-doings, especially to his teachers at School, something that never went down well with the surly teenager, "So...If it was me, I'd go with doing the right thing."

Jesse put his head in his hands, "I was afraid you'd say that..."

Mark studied him for a moment, his concern for the younger man rapidly increasing, "Jesse...What's this all about?"

"I saw..." Jesse started, then lost his nerve, standing up agitatedly and pacing up and down, "It's nothing...It doesn't matter."

"Jesse..." Mark patted the space on the couch were the younger man had been sitting, "You can tell me anything...You know that."

Jesse took in a deep breath and stopped his nervous pacing, sitting back down next to his friend, "When my shift ended the day before yesterday, and I was heading for my car I saw Jack with a bunch of guy's who were beating up some other guy in Community General's Parking Lot."

"Was Jack attacking the man too?"

"No, I don't think so...But he wasn't trying to stop it either...And he helped them to throw the guy in to the trunk of a car." Jesse looked down at the ground, "I'm really sorry Mark."

Mark took a moment or two to absorbe the information, "Jesse, you were really exhausted that night...Maybe you just imagined it." He just couldn't believe that Jack would do something like that, "Either that, or your mind could have been playing tricks on you...That happens to the best of us."

Jesse gripped his Cellphone...He wanted to tell Mark that he'd dropped it in the Parking Lot but he just couldn't find the courage to do so; usualy, Jesse would argue his case...Insisting that he knew what he'd saw, but the young Doctor had now completely lost his nerve, "Yeah...You're probably right...I just imagined the whole thing" The younger man stood up...He knew he shouldn't have said anything, "I gotta go..." And with that he made for a hasty exit.

"Jesse..." Mark followed after the younger man, "At least let me give you a lift."

"No, it's fine." Jesse set one foot outside then turned back, "You're not gonna tell Steve about this...Are you?"

"Not if you don't want me to." Mark answered

"Thanks." And with that he left.

Mark frowned and dragged a hand down his face, "Well that could have gone better..."


End file.
